Teen boy accused of threatening to bring gun to school

Thursday

Sep 26, 2013 at 12:01 AMSep 26, 2013 at 5:09 PM

A 15-year-old Watkins High School student was taken into custody yesterday, accused of threatening to shoot students at school today. The boy was placed in the Licking County Juvenile Detention Center last night. He will face a delinquency charge of aggravated menacing today in Juvenile Court, said detective Sgt. Brock Harmon of the Licking County sheriff's office.

Jim Woods, The Columbus Dispatch

A 15-year-old Watkins High School student has been charged with threatening to shoot students at school.

Joseph Dryden, of Pataskala, was charged yesterday with a delinquency county of disorderly conduct in the vicinity of a school or school-safety zone and released. He is due in Juvenile Court this afternoon.

Deputies were called to Watkins High, in Etna Township in the Southwest Licking district, yesterday afternoon by a staff member.

The staff member had learned from at least one student that the boy had threatened to get a .22-caliber gun and bring it to school, said detective Sgt. Brock Harmon of the Licking County sheriff’s office.

The boy was arrested at his home and released. Harmon wouldn’t say whether deputies seized a gun at the home.

This is the third arrest of a student in central Ohio in connection with a threat since the start of the school year.

Licking County deputies arrested Parker Fox, 17, on Sept. 12. The Northridge High School senior was charged with a delinquency count of aggravated menacing after authorities say he made threats on a social-media site.

And Kenton police in Hardin County arrested Derick Craig, 18, a senior, on Sept. 19 after students at Kenton High School said they overheard him threatening to shoot someone. Police seized 20 guns from Craig’s home and charged him with inducing panic.